God is a writer . . .

 

 

My daughter said I must put all my articles and other written works in digital form and put them on a portable drive. Neither of us realized how many files that involved.

This morning, WRITTEN popped up as today’s word. It reminds me that God likes things written. Through human writers that He inspired and enlightened, He recorded His activities in OT history. Then, and in the marvel of coming to us in the NT, His Word of God was written in flesh and then in words with pen and ink!

My Bible concordance had ten references for written. My Logos software surprised me with 250 results. The first and most obvious is that God wrote the Law on two tablets of stone:

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction . . . . “And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God . . . . “Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written.” (Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:15)

Right after that, a book is mentioned: Exodus 32:32. “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” However, most of OT focus is on what God wrote as instruction for His people. He wanted them and future generations to know Him and learn His will as well as appropriate responses.

God made clear the importance of obedience by written warnings such as Deuteronomy 29:27: “Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book” and promises such as this one to Joshua: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”

Even though Moses and others penned what God said, the Bible is clear that God is the Author and the One telling readers how to respond:

1 Kings 2:3. “Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.”

All through the OT, the people were motivated to keep a written account of what their kings were doing and keep track of genealogies. Letters were included as writings to be kept. Anything that the Lord declared to the prophets was recorded, and carefully copied and recopied, preserved for us.

For instance, Isaiah was told to write things in a book as a perpetual witness of things to come. A similar command was given to Jeremiah: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write in a book all the words that I have spoken to you.” Much of this record pointed forward to a new covenant in which God’s law would be written by God on the hearts of humankind:

Jeremiah 31:33–34. “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

In the NT, God uses His people to challenge readers with “It is written . . . .” and tell more about this God who writes. Many call His words a love letter written and preserved by God through the power of the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:20–21. “. . . No prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. Even though Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” I know from personal experience that it is possible to read, even memorize Scripture yet not know Christ or be written in His Book of Life. The good news is that the same Spirit that inspired it can also speak through it and write it into human hearts. He did that for me. Until He did, it was just words I read for many years without understanding. Yet He came and enlightened me. For that reason, I keep reading and relying on Him to use what He has written to keep changing my life.